Miscellany: Brompton C Line Explore folding bicycle review

I like my Bike Friday New World Tourist bicycle well enough, but due to the clumsiness of the folding mechanism, it's really best for occasional car trips and long-term storage, not for daily intracity jaunts. So, I ponied up the $1500 (!) for a true urban folding bicycle - a Brompton:

Why did I go with a Brompton, rather than the inexpensive Chinese-made folding bikes on Amazon that cost a thousand bucks less? Well, the Brompton is hand-made in London, and it has the most compact, convenient fold (check out the video below). If you believe in the mantra of "buy once, cry once," it's worth the money:

Brompton rejiggered their model nomenclature a few years ago, and my model is now called the "C Line Explore." That means it has a steel frame and 6 speeds, provided by a 2-speed derailleur mated with a 3-speed internal hub. There are other (much) pricier variants, such as a titanium-framed model that shaves off 10 pounds and an electrified version with a detachable battery. Whether those are worth the money, given the stiff competition in electric mobility these days, is up to you.

Brompton's bikes do have some nice features.  They all come with folding pedals, fenders, bells, and other niceties for urban commuting. They can fold partially into a handy "trolley mode" that allows you to wheel the bike like a cart through grocery stores and the like:

However, there are some practical drawbacks to a folding bike this small. The ride is worse than a normal bike or even my Bike Friday, due to the smaller frame and inherent compromises in the mechanism (I can go about 10 miles on this thing before crying uncle, and only at about 70-80% of the speed of a normal bike). Similarly, the thin wheels can't really handle off-road work, other than grassy lawns or packed sand/gravel.

Still, that's the price you pay for a bike that can fold into neat package under your desk in less than 30 seconds. If that sounds like something you want, there is really no substitute for a Brompton.